CALCUTTA, 16 February 2005 — After keeping Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government on tenterhooks, India’s top communist leaders are flying to Pakistan for a tête-à-tête with President Pervez Musharraf.

Party sources in Calcutta, capital of communist-ruled West Bengal, said Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Communist Party of India’s A.B. Bardhan, will cross the border on Feb. 24 for an eight-day visit.

The duration of their stay in Pakistan and their meetings with President Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other top leaders signify the importance of the trip.

They will call on President Musharraf and Premier Aziz on March 1, according to a tentative schedule drawn up by their hosts.

Their official hosts are three Left outfits: Pakistan Communist Party, Pakistani Mazdoor Kisan Communist Party and the Pakistani National Workers’ Party.

Apparently, Surjeet and Bardhan accepted the invitation to raise the profile of the left outfits in Pakistan which are a mere shadow of their counterparts in India.

“War and warmongering are the luxuries of the wealthy. We are opposed to militarization or nuclearization. We stand for permanent peace between India and Pakistan so that funds spent on maintaining huge war machines are diverted to the social sector — health, education, employment etc”, said a CPI(M) leader explaining why Surjeet and Bardhan accepted the invitation.

The Pakistani establishment is rolling out the red carpet for the visiting communists because of their influence over India’s United Progressive Alliance government and in shaping the country’s economic and foreign policies.

Aziz called on the CPI(M) and CPI leadership when he visited India last year.

The two leftist leaders are respected in Pakistan as liberals opposed to warmongering and jingoism which reached a crescendo during Bharatiya Janata Party rule.

The Indian left has consistently advocated peace with Pakistan, even declaring that the onus for normalizing relations is on India as it is six times bigger than Pakistan. They are opposed to war which they say harms the interests of the poor on both sides of the border. The CPI(M)’s latest draft political resolution states that it is absolutely essential for both India and Pakistan to sort out their problems through a bilateral dialogue. It says that the two countries should sort out their differences bilaterally instead of subjecting themselves to American arbitration.

The left believes that bilateral relations will blossom through people-to-people contact and friendly interactions between the countries’ political parties. They never tire of citing what a big hit Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was when he toured Pakistan before the UPA came to power.

A CPI(M) leader said in Calcutta that due to complex historical factors Pakistani left outfits do not have any significant say in the country’s affairs. They have limited membership — mostly among the peasantry, working class and intellectuals. They are barred from carrying out political activities and communists live perpetually in fear.

As in the past, the CPI(M) has invited fraternal Pakistani parties to its national congress beginning April 1.